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When I was a kid, I secretly envied garbage men. Unlike me, they were allowed to stand on the edges of moving trucks and were entrusted with hauling away sacred remnants of people’s lives. In my mind, this entailed things like torn-up diary pages, shredded portions of Swiss bank statements, and photographic evidence of clandestine love affairs. Nowadays, there’s no denying that waste management is an essential part of our daily lives. How we process every particle of our waste — from books and cell phones to glass bottles and cardboard boxes — is absolutely critical to the health of our bodies and our planet.

This afternoon, I toured Eartha Limited, a sustainable waste management company that opened last July. Located in a warehouse on the Whittier Peninsula, it provides sustainability for the Columbus food service industry through environmentally friendly practices. It increases public awareness of waste reduction, educates food service employees about contemporary removal/reuse methods, and collaborates with Central Ohio nonprofit organizations to help members of our community learn about waste sustainability. Every element of this place is reused, recycled, repurposed, and respected.

This is where magic happens. Thank you, Mike Minnix, for leading such a crucial charge. Eartha is as inspiring as it is vital. Who knew that trash could be so beautiful?